How to Hedge Against Inflation: What Six Experts Recommended on Wealthion

Five years of above-target inflation have turned "how to hedge against inflation" from a textbook question into a household one. Over the past three months, six experts interviewed on Wealthion, Daniel Lacalle, Jim Bianco, Pierre Lassonde, Jonathan Wellum, Don Durrett, and Francis Hunt, have attacked it from very different angles. Read together, their transcripts carry one uncomfortable signal: the assets most people still call inflation hedges, long-term bonds above all, no longer do the job, and even gold only works if you hold it for the right reason and the right time frame. Here is what they actually said.

Why do investors need an inflation hedge in 2026?

Because the driver of this inflation is fiscal, and none of these experts expects it to stop. Daniel Lacalle, chief economist at Tressis, argued in his May conversation with Maggie Lake that governments issuing ever-larger amounts of debt will not trigger a formal debt crisis; the pressure escapes through the currency instead, as the "destruction of the purchasing power of the currencies which is inflation."

Jonathan Wellum of Rocklinc put numbers on the squeeze in his May interview: US debt approaching $40 trillion against roughly $5 trillion of federal revenue means every one percent rise in rates adds about $400 billion of interest cost. His conclusion for viewers was blunt: "Investors need to really be careful about how they're going to protect the purchasing power."

How do you hedge against inflation?

Start by retiring the old answer. For decades the default hedge was the bond side of a 60/40 portfolio. Lacalle was unequivocal that this no longer works: "sovereign bonds particularly long-term sovereign bonds have stopped being the reserve asset" that cushioned portfolios in weak markets. Worse, in his view, bonds no longer protect you when markets weaken, because when markets now fall, the fear is persistent inflation, and bonds fall with them.

The framework that emerges from these six conversations has three parts. First, decide what you are actually hedging: a monthly CPI print, or a multi-year erosion of purchasing power. Every expert here says the second is the real risk. Second, favor assets whose supply cannot be expanded by policy. Third, match the hedge to your time horizon, because the same asset can fail over six weeks and succeed over six years.

Is gold an inflation hedge?

This is where the experts who appeared on Wealthion genuinely disagree, and the disagreement is the most useful part.

Pierre Lassonde, co-founder of Franco-Nevada, answered "Absolutely" in his May interview with Trey Reik when asked whether gold has historically hedged CPI inflation and geopolitical shocks, provided you measure over the right window. He notes that "80% of the value of gold on a daily basis is related to the US dollar," so short stretches where gold falls while inflation rises tell you about the dollar, not about gold's long-run role. On a 120-year view, he points out, gold has twice reached a one-to-one ratio with the Dow, in 1934 and 1980.

Don Durrett takes the opposite side of the near-term question. In his June conversation, he argued that gold is not a reliable near-term hedge against inflation or geopolitical headlines at all: "Where gold is a hedge is when the whole thing burns to the ground." For Durrett, gold is systemic insurance against stress in the roughly $250 trillion global stock and bond complex. As he put it, "The only reason I own gold and silver is because of the weakness in the US bond market." His metric is the gold-to-S&P 500 ratio, now around 0.6 versus above 1.0 at the 1980 and 2011 peaks, which tells him the real uncertainty trade has not even arrived.

Lacalle splits the difference: corrections will come whenever the dollar strengthens, but "gold, silver need to be in your portfolio for the longer term."

Is silver a hedge against inflation?

Wellum's case for silver is scarcity plus industrial demand. With silver in the $80 range after roughly $30 a year earlier, he refused to predict prices but noted that given the structural supply shortfall, "it could easily double from here," and that he prefers owning producers that generate strong cash flow even at far lower silver prices. Francis Hunt, who told Wealthion in his June interview that he has not reduced his gold, silver, or platinum holdings, counsels patience on entry: for long-term accumulators, he suggests dollar-cost averaging and waiting for pullbacks rather than chasing strength.

What about real estate, commodities, and bonds?

Lacalle treats real estate the way he treats equities: it can preserve purchasing power, but selectively. In his words, the things that go up, go up faster, and the things that don't move go nowhere, so owning "real estate" in the abstract is not a hedge; owning the right assets is.

On commodities, Wellum's principle is the cleanest version of the supply argument: "commodities will go up in value relative to a debasing currency," because no central bank can print copper, uranium, or silver. He ties the demand side to electrification and the AI buildout, both of which need far more copper and nickel than current production supports.

Bonds get one honest defense, from Jim Bianco. In his May interview, he noted that all-in yields near 5 percent on investment-grade bonds finally pay something, and that bonds mature at par. But his condition is credibility: "as a bond investor I can stop panicking when the Fed starts panicking." If the Fed signals it tolerates 3.8 percent inflation, bond investors will keep selling. Bianco is also skeptical of the fashionable framing of the debasement trade, saying "I never understood the debate" about fleeing the dollar for other currencies, since every major currency is being debased together. The escape, if there is one, is out of fiat generally, not out of the dollar specifically.

What is the best hedge against inflation?

No single asset. What these six experts share is a posture, not a ticker. Hold real assets for years, not weeks (Lacalle, Lassonde). Treat gold as insurance against systemic stress rather than a month-to-month CPI tracker (Durrett). Own producers of scarce physical inputs, not just the metals (Wellum). Demand credibility before trusting bonds again (Bianco). And keep dry powder, because in Hunt's words, "cash is your friend when everything crashes," which is precisely when the assets you actually want go on sale.

Each of those is a named expert's own playbook. The common thread is that hedging inflation in 2026 means protecting purchasing power over a full cycle, with assets that fiscal policy cannot dilute.

Six experts, six different hedges — real assets, producers, bonds, dry powder. Which mix protects your purchasing power depends on your holdings, your horizon, and your goals. A Wealthion-endorsed advisor can walk through it with you, free of charge. Request your free portfolio review at https://www.wealthion.com/advisors/

FAQ: Inflation Hedging in Brief

What is the best hedge against inflation? The experts Wealthion interviewed name no single asset. Their overlap: real assets held long term, producers of scarce commodities, and gold as systemic insurance, with cash reserved for dislocations.

Is gold a good hedge against inflation? Over multi-year horizons, Pierre Lassonde says yes, emphatically. Over weeks or months, Don Durrett says no; gold hedges systemic crisis, not monthly CPI. The time frame is the whole answer.

Is silver a hedge against inflation? Jonathan Wellum argues silver benefits twice: from currency debasement and from a structural supply shortfall against industrial demand. He prefers cash-flowing producers over price predictions.

Is real estate a hedge against inflation? Selectively, per Daniel Lacalle. Prime assets can preserve purchasing power; the average property may not. Treat it like stock picking, not like an index.

Do bonds protect against inflation? Long-term sovereign bonds no longer provide the cushion they once did, per Lacalle. Jim Bianco sees value in 5 percent all-in yields only if the Fed defends its inflation credibility.

Which experts and interviews does this article reference? Six Wealthion interviews from May to June 2026: Daniel Lacalle on savers getting crushed, Jim Bianco on the Fed's worst nightmare, Pierre Lassonde on gold's long-run floor, Jonathan Wellum on commodities as the escape hatch, Don Durrett on gold and the bond market, and Francis Hunt on the dollar and precious metals.